Elevators are convenient apparatus for humans working or living in high-rise buildings. Modern elevators carry people and goods on any floor rapidly and securely.
Most elevator use sophisticated control systems that respond primarily to floor requests by way of buttons installed on user panels. The vast majority of these panels actually requires the user to physically touch and press the buttons, allowing germs and bacteria to be transferred from hands to the buttons and from the buttons to hands.
New findings show that the number of bacteria present on an elevator button is almost 40 times higher than on public toilet seats. Research carried out in public areas showed that the level of bacteria on elevator buttons can average up to 313 colony forming units (CFUs) per square centimeter, compared to 8 CFUs on the average public toilet seat. E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are some of the common bacteria that can be found on elevator buttons. It is known that direct hand contact is one important method by which germs and bacteria spread through the population and that contributes to increased risk of contamination and disease.
The prior art button panels systems have many drawbacks and limitations.
Some of the prior art systems known to the Applicant are disclosed in patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 7,598,501, U.S. Pat. No. 7,692,172, US20070071636 and US20120131756.
There is thus a need to provide an efficient apparatus for sanitizing buttons, such as elevator buttons.